DALLAS – The Vancouver Canucks on Friday tripped over the quarter-pole in their National Hockey League season, reaching the 21-game mark with three wins in regulation time and even less hope.

They have played better since burying themselves with a nine-game losing streak that followed their 4-0 start. But being average after being terrible hasn’t helped in the standings.

They should have beaten the Chicago Blackhawks one week ago but blew a 3-0 lead. They could have beaten the Dallas Stars here Friday, but lost 2-1 because they couldn’t capitalize on their chances when Dallas goalie Antti Niemi was fighting the puck early, then couldn’t beat him in the third period when he was sharp.

With a couple of wins against the Arizona Coyotes between these losses – against the only team in the Western Conference worse than they are – the Canucks should have soared to Denver for today’s game against the Avalanche while carrying a four-game winning streak.

Instead, they’re treading water, which was already too deep for them, and land retreating from view.

“It’s too much win-one, lose-one right now,” Canuck captain Henrik Sedin summarized Friday. “We’ve got to get on a roll to get back to .500. This was a good chance for us. We came in and played a really good game. This was a game we could have had.”

Instead, Niemi settled his nerves and the puck and finished with 30 saves, including a couple of desperation stops against Alex Burrows at the back post during a third period when Vancouver outshot Dallas 14-7.

The Stars, first in the conference last season and a Stanley Cup contender even with their erratic goalkeeping, are just 9-8-5 and had lost four of their previous six games before Friday.

Slightly fortunate to be trailing only 1-0 halfway through the game, the Stars scored twice in 6 ½ minutes and that was all the offence they needed.

The Canucks’ offensive-zone pressure at the end of the game was nice, and might have been productive had Alex Edler been able to get his shot through from the point at least once. He had eight of his shots blocked, which normally would only happen to a five-foot centre in basketball.

“I’ve got to find a way to get at least one of those through,” Edler said. “You know they’re going to have at least one guy in the (shooting) lane. We had enough chances, but we have to bury them.”

People may remember that the Canucks finished the game skating six-on-four, with Dallas’ Patrick Sharp in the penalty box.

But Vancouver’s critical failure was not leading by more than goal through 29 minutes when Niemi was spilling pucks and spring-loading rebounds.

“That’s what we thought, too,” Sedin said. “We wanted to put a lot of pucks on net. We had chances to score the second one before they tied it, and that was the difference.”

Canuck goalie Ryan Miller said: “I thought we were right there tonight and couldn’t capitalize. When you get a lead, you need to expand it in this league. It’s a little disappointing. I don’t have any answers.”

Miller didn’t look particularly good on either of the Dallas goals, but one was a deflection in the high slot by Radek Faksa that tied it 1-1 at 9:32 of the second period, the other a shot by Esa Lindell, who slipped unchecked past Canuck Loui Eriksson, that Miller barely saw through Patrick Eaves’ screen.

The only Canuck to score was minor-league callup Jayson Megna, who was elevated to the second line after Vancouver winger Sven Baertschi was unable to play due to a lacerated foot suffered in Wednesday’s 4-1 win in Phoenix.

Megna sped past leaden ex-Canuck Dan Hamhuis and on to Bo Horvat’s past, swerved in on Niemi and scored at 5:01 of the first period when the goalie over-committed.

“I think you’ve got to cook him when he’s down,” Horvat said of Niemi. “Getting the first goal helped us, obviously, and we played a good first period. It was nice to get a lead. But if we got a couple more in the first we probably knock his confidence off.

“We had tonnes of chances tonight, especially in the third period. We had that little lapse in the second period and it hurt us. But it’s not like we played a bad game.”

No, the Canucks were right there were a struggling Stars’ team. They’ve been outshot only twice in their last nine games. They’ve scored 24 goals in the eight games since their epic losing streak ended. Vancouver is 4-3-1 during this stretch. That’s not going to be good enough. Everyone knows this.

“The Chicago game would have been back-to-back (wins), which means the Arizona game would have been three in a row,” Canuck rookie Troy Stecher said of the missed opportunities. “Obviously, you get frustrated but you have to find a way to stay positive. We’re playing well. We have to keep looking at the positives; I know it’s a cliche. We’re doing a lot of good things.”

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